Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Home again home again

To market to market, to buy a fat pig; home again home again, jiggety jig. I returned to the States last week, and have definitely been in a jigging mood since. Everything is so much like it was when I left, that I feel as if my time in Asia was some strange prolonged dream that ended when I stepped inside my parent's house again. Yet, there are so many things that I've learned from it. It's strange, but I feel like the things that I learned abroad have helped me with completely unrelated things back home. I can run for longer without tiring. I can ski moguls better (which I tested out for three blissful days in Colorado on my return). It's strange.

I think I've mellowed out a lot on this trip. It's hard to be high-strung when you're travelling in India. I think you would explode. No I don't want to buy that piece of crap from you. No I don't want to go to your hotel. Yes I am supposed to be on this train. No I won't marry a complete stranger.

It's strange being back in a place that's filled with my stuff after seeing how little stuff some people have. The kids at the orphanage can fit their belongings in a 2x4 foot crate, and mine is exploding out of my closet.

I love being home, but it is strange to be back around so many people who haven't had my experiences (probably adds to the dream factor). It's not really something that you can express effectively to other people. Sure, there's poor people over there, sure it's chaotic. But until you really see it, it doesn't sink in. It is funny how China seems so much more like the USA than India.

I have about two months back in the states before I head off to my next adventure in Zurich. Plans include: reading an absurd amount (leisure and educational), volunteering at my grandparent's nursing home, bumming around campus libraries, cooking food for my family, fitting into my pants again, rediscovering my love for classical saxophone, and catching up with old friends. Sure I have a lot of leisure time, but life is so diverse, I know it will slip through my hands only too fast. Thanks for reading, and there will be a European edition of baking in the snow starting in May.